Following Nottinghamshire’s conclusive victory by 87 runs in the Yorkshire
Bank 40 final, their captain Chris Read has to steer his side clear of
relegation in their final championship match starting on Tuesday.

Following Nottinghamshire’s conclusive victory by 87 runs in the Yorkshire Bank 40 final, their captain Chris Read has to steer his side clear of relegation in their final championship match starting tomorrow.

Notts’ neighbours Derbyshire are favourites to go down with Surrey because they have to win their final match. But if Derbyshire take maximum points, Notts need to scrape together 10 points to avoid the drop – and Read hopes that the “joy” and “momentum” of winning the cup final will serve to propel his team to safety.

It was the first cup final at Lord’s that Notts had won since 1989. But at least a wait of 24 years has been shorter than that of Glamorgan, who have been trying since the start of limited-overs cricket in 1963 to win their first cup final.

“This is something that has been nagging at me for a number of years,” said Read, one of the finest county cricketers in the decade since he lost his England place. “It’s a fantastic feeling, it’s right up there. For the most part it’s been a mightily disappointing season for a squad of such quality.”

But blessed with Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, and the confidence they brought as England players, Notts had the upper hand for most of the final.

Notts deserved to win because they overcame the serious disadvantage of losing the toss. On a day of unrelenting cloud that demanded the floodlights, the white ball swung far more than normal and also seamed for Glamorgan — only they did not make the most of these conditions as they fielded only two pace bowlers who exploited them.

Neither Michael Lumb nor Alex Hales made a significant score but the boldness with which they reacted to a daunting start — 35 balls passed, as the ball nipped around, before the first boundary — was highly influential.

By hitting 47 without loss in the initial powerplay of eight overs they seized the initiative.

Glamorgan began to wrest it back as Simon Jones, bowling straight through from the pavilion end, formed a fine bowling partnership with the wristy new offspinner Andrew Salter. But Gareth Rees at mid-off dropped a sharp chance offered off Salter by David Hussey, and Hussey with Read added 99 in the highest stand in the four years of 40-over cup finals.

Although Stuart Broad was bowled first ball, it was the last ball of Notts innings, and he bowled with ever-improving rhythm after missing the one-day series against Australia. In his final spell he wrapped up three wickets for two runs.

Swann, rested since the Ashes, hit 29 off 19 balls by cashing in on wide balls with his usual élan. But he had hardly settled into his bowling stride before he was being out-performed by Samit Patel, who nipped in for the man of the match award by turning the ball prodigiously to hit the offstump twice and trapping Murray Goodwin lbw when he missed a sweep.

If the end of the final was muted as Glamorgan collapsed, losing their last five wickets for 13 runs, it made perhaps the appropriate finale for the 40-over competition which has been part of the county season since 1969.

Originally the emphasis of the 40-over competition was on fun, and it made for a nice Sunday afternoon out, especially at an out-ground like Leek, or Yeovil, or Moreton-in-Marsh. It was born out of the Sunday afternoon games played in the 1960s by the Rothman Cavaliers against counties for the sake of a beneficiary.

The competition had a beneficial effect too when run-ups were limited to eight yards. In the 1970s many a pace bowler ran further than necessary, for cosmetic effect, and over-rates sank as there was no official sanction.

An eight-yard run-up helped to concentrate minds, bodies and run-ups in other formats too.

But the 40-over competition became, if not a chore and a bore, then at any rate one competition too many.

When the ECB inaugurated the 20-over competition in 2003, there was no need for 40 overs. It fell between stools, neither a proper one-day match like 50 overs a side, or a fun evening out like T20.

Yet, by a remarkable piece of maladministration, it was the 50-over competition that was abolished. For the four seasons from 2010, England’s one-day players were supposed to develop the capacity to win World Cups without having a domestic 50-over competition in which to nurture their skills.

Next season, as a result of common sense being made to prevail by the Morgan Review, a 50-over competition will be reinstated, with the counties divided into two groups of nine, with eight qualifying matches in each group, to be played in August when pitches should be at their driest. Two spinners will then become standard, as in most one-day internationals, but seldom in 40-over cricket outside Glamorgan.

England have not won a World Cup since the tournament began in 1975, nor a Champions Trophy, but at least in future they will have a breeding ground.